Production and Decay of D_1(2420)^0 and D_2^*(2460)^0

Abstract

We have investigated $D^{+}π^{-}$ and $D^{*+}π^{-}$ final states and observed the two established $L=1$ charmed mesons, the $D_1(2420)^0$ with mass $2421^{+1+2}_{-2-2}$ MeV/c$^{2}$ and width $20^{+6+3}_{-5-3}$ MeV/c$^{2}$ and the $D_2^*(2460)^0$ with mass $2465 \pm 3 \pm 3$ MeV/c$^{2}$ and width $28^{+8+6}_{-7-6}$ MeV/c$^{2}$. Properties of these final states, including their decay angular distributions and spin-parity assignments, have been studied. We identify these two mesons as the $j_{light}=3/2$ doublet predicted by HQET. We also obtain constraints on {\footnotesize $Γ_S/(Γ_S + Γ_D)$} as a function of the cosine of the relative phase of the two amplitudes in the $D_1(2420)^0$ decay.

15 pages in REVTEX format. hardcopies with figures can be obtained by sending mail to: preprints@lns62.lns.cornell.edu